How about that $1 billion offer by Warren Buffett for a little inspiration?

We've got a new leader in our MLive.com prediction crew in the Muskegon Chronicle's Mark Opfermann, and that was before word of the $1 billion. He's vowing now to sharpen his skills on his high school picks, so watch out.

Mark Opfermann of the Muskegon Chronicle. (MLive.com)

We're not sure about the $1 billion impact on the rest of the predictions crew, but they're already doing quite well. So we expect our picks will continue to be a good indicator of what to expect on the court.

Of course, one reporter's rise is another's downfall.

Falling to No. 2 behind Opfermann was Hugh "The Mad Bavarian'' Bernreuter of the Saginaw News, and he seems quite despondent after a sub-par week of predictions by his high standards.

Will he rebound this week? Will Opfermann stay No. 1?

We need someone to predict that.

In the meantime, here are the predictions, in order of season accuracy:

(Just a reminder that in three of our regions - Jackson, Bay City and Ann Arbor - you can pick against the MLive.com writer.)

Muskegon Chronicle: Even before hearing about the $1 billion, Opfermann went 9-1 last week, so watch out. His season record is 30-5, or 86 percent.

Saginaw News: Bernreuter says he's washed up after his 39-15 record (72 percent) was far below what has made him No. 1. He's 137-28 for the season, lowering his season mark from 88 to 83 percent. It's so sad, and he wrote: "The Bavarian, who has more than 25 years of prognostication experience, doesn’t remember getting old. He doesn’t remember a lot of things actually."

Grand Rapids Press: Steve Kaminski has been hot, moving right up the MLive ladder. He was 16-4 last week, bumping up his season record to 50-12, and keeping him at 81 percent.

Metro Detroit: Jared Purcell's picks sizzled last week - a 21-3 record. He's now 72-19 on the season, with his accuracy rate rising from 76 to 79 percent.

Kalamazoo Gazette: Newcomer Justin Dacey improved from 30-15 to 37-10 in his second week of picks. That jumped his picking percentage from 67 to 73 percent, but he admits he's still pretty jumpy about it.

Jackson Citizen Patriot: Rich McGowan's inspiration is new nemesis is Karson Fairbanks, who picks against him in the Citizen Patriot's contest. Fairbanks has gone 27-3 the past three weeks; McGowan went 23-7 and appears to be taking it personally. Anyway, McGowan went 7-3 last week to make his season record 29-11, and keeping his mark at 73 percent.

Ann Arbor News: First-year picker Kyle Austin went 5-3 - a mark topped by 35 of his reader competitors - and he's not feeling very cocky. In fact, he's mocking one of the picks he got right! He's 15-9 on the season, and his record stayed at 63 percent.

Bay City Times: It was a tough week in the Bay City predictions business, and like most of his reader competitor rookie picker Mike Niziolek missed a couple of critical games. He went 3-3, but only was defeated by five of his readers. His season record is 11-7, and his 61 percent mark plunges him to the bottom of our list.